Shiara
by RyukyuHime
Summary: The randomest, non-continuous, shortest, cheesiest, angstiest femshep/Liara oneshots ever.
1. Worth It

Worth it

* * *

"I hope that this galaxy is worth all of the effort that you're putting into saving it."

This galaxy that doubted her every move, ready to jump at her every step. But this galaxy that, at the same time, contained someone that had stood, was standing, and promised to stand with her for as long as she was alive.

Though the question may have been rhetorical, the answer was simple.

"Maybe not, but a future with you is worth even dying for."


	2. I Do

I Do

* * *

The captain's cabin was unusually quiet without music, the barely audible whirr of the ship pervading the air, interrupted only by the rapid breathing of it crumpled Commander.

It had been the first nightmare that Liara had been there for.

"And sometimes I get so terrified. Because what if I'm not me? These glowing scars lining my body- they aren't me. These past two years I've been out on an operating table- they aren't me. And all of these insecurities that I can't get over- they aren't me. But who are they then? Who the hell is Commander Shepard anymore?"

In a voice as fleeting as the control she felt she had over herself, Shepard brokenly whispered, both hands scrunching the short hair to her scalp. "I don't feel like _I_ even know who I am anymore."

In an instant, Liara folded Shepard's crumpled form within her steady embrace, whispering determinedly into her ears.

"I do."


	3. I Got Rhythm

I Got Rhythm

* * *

Liara couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she saw her beloved dance, or least attempt to. The sight of Shepard awkwardly shifting her limbs was a mix of both adorable and a little pitiful.

"What?" Shepard asked, grinning innocently as she moved to the music at her own random pace. The lack of rhythm her body displayed was so polar from the graceful snake she was on the battlefield.

Involuntarily smirking at the sight, Liara remembered something she had earlier heard. "Dancing is said to be a primal ritual of attracting mates by displaying their command of their body, their coordination and agility, to a rhythm. Flaunting their ability to... refine and control their body to the finest degree."

Shepard grinned even wider, a single brow raising at the statement. "Is my superior command and control of my body to this rhythm attracting a certain beautiful asari goddess to me right now?"

"This? This sight is really rather painful, actually." Liara admitted unguiltily, eliciting a cry of protest from Shepard, followed by a sigh of defeat.

"Screw this." And with that, Shepard quit trying and instead took another approach, pushing Liara up against the wall, mouth mere centimeters from her goddess's ear. "I got rhythm."

"Hmm?" Liara challenged, her head rolling back with her eyes closed in pleasure.

"Oh yeah. You know I got rhythm when it counts." Shepard murmured as her hands roamed underneath the asari's clothes, hungrily running down her supple and soft curves. "You know I've got command of my own body, and dare I say, yours." She nipped at her lover's ear at the daring statement, just the way she knew she liked it. Her goddess rewarded with a delicious gasp and one more unguilty admission.

"That you do."


	4. Lost In Time

Lost in Time

* * *

Liara was lost.

She had never been to Earth before, much less to a city as expansive and polar as the one that this year's annual Galactic Prothean Convention was held. This was the first time it had been held on Earth, an undeniable honor. And the first time Liara had been invited to present her findings from her latest expedition, an even greater honor.

And now a lost opportunity to establish respect as a young and inexperienced asari scientist, because she was hopelessly lost in the hidden side of the city.

Trash and the sallow abandoned littered the darkened alleys of grungy area. The soot-filled air was pungently silent, heavy like the tension before a strike. Liara knew full well that a young and lost 'alien' like herself was prime target here, and she knew that this was like nothing she had ever experienced on her cultured home world, Thessia.

By the goddess... She attempted to signal for help using her omnitool, but the signal was a sputter, probably because as far she could tell, no one here would have enough credits for an omnitool to begin with.

"You lost?"

Startled, Liara jumped and turned around to face the source of the young, female voice.

There was a young human girl standing there, arms crossed, with grungy, short red hair and piercing eyes of green. As inexperienced as Liara was in the basics of human years, she guessed the girl was around 12 or so.

At Liara's lagged response, the girl answered her own question. "I suppose you are. Asari don't come visit here often. Or ever for that matter. Too high and mighty to be soiling their hands with our filth and all, I guess."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean anything like-" Liara's eyes widened in shock as she was abruptly interrupted.

"Where're trying to get to?" The girl sighed and walked towards the struck asari. "Here, show me your omni-tool. I'll set it to your destination; signals work funny around here."

After a second long internal battle with logic, Liara acquiesced and turned on her omnitool again, facing it to the girl to do her magic. With a few taps and scrolls and minutes later, she was done and a light appeared, pointing Liara into the direction of the main city.

"Just follow it, and you should be good. And no, I'm not leading you into a robbing den or anything."

"Wait," Liara sincerely said as the mysteriously helpful girl began to walk off, back into the darkness of her alleys, before Liara could give her any thanks.

True to the girl's words, Liara did make it back to the city, and in time for her presentation. The crowd had been intrigued by her findings, even almost seeing through their prejudice against her. When at the following banquet she told a colleague of hers about the experience, her colleague's eyes widened as she warned the innocent Liara of hoodlums like that robbing all money and information off of lost tourists.

Although Liara didn't believe that a girl as nice as her, one that really did help Liara find her way back to the city, would rob her, she quickly pulled up her account and checked anyways.

Half of her credits were gone. Disappeared. But only half.

Curiously enough, Liara couldn't find herself minding.

She was sure that if that girl didn't take all of it when she could've, she must've truly needed the money.

She must've needed it just as much as Liara needed an established name for herself.

If only, Liara thought. If only she had stayed, Liara might've ended up giving her more. If only she were able to say thank you to that mysterious little girl.

* * *

Whoops. Sorry, that ended up a little long, but I ended up really intrigued with the idea that Shepard and Liara might've already met.


	5. Challenge Accepted

Challenge Accepted

* * *

"Can you drive this Mako even more recklessly than you already are?"

Liara knuckles were a pale blue as she clenched onto her seat to avoid being jerked like a rag doll, azure speckled eyes wide open with nerves. Shepard only smiled and placed one reassuring hand on her knee.

The Mako then suddenly picked up its pace approaching a jagged mountainside, dramatically dropping off from the crimson horizon into nowhere. As Liara saw the mischievous glint in Shepard's eyes, she saw the fault in her words and made no attempt to suppress a groan.

"Challenge accepted."


	6. Enough

Enough

* * *

She looked a mess. She was a mess.

With tubes and wires and fields surrounding every inch of Shepard, it was hard to tell that an actual living human being existed beneath it all, body struggling every second for a breath of air.

But Liara could feel it.

Past the tubes, past the wires, past the peeking ash charred skin, and past the savior of the galaxy, deliverer from the Reapers.

She could feel the fight of Shepard's beating heart, pounding against gravity, hoisted by her god-awfully stubborn spirit.

And she could feel the tears unwillingly brimming and her heart stubbornly aching, knowing that Shepard was giving her all yet again to keep her unspoken promise.

That in itself was enough for Liara.


	7. Boobs

Boobs

* * *

"You were staring at her!" Liara indignantly cried as they both escaped the atmosphere of pounding beats, thrumming vibrations, and disconcerting flashes of the Purgatory.

Shepard held up her hands, slowing her gait, protesting, "I was not! At least not in the way you're implying."

Liara was stubbornly close to tears now, orbs flooding and magnifying with water. "Tell me the truth, you were staring at Aria T'Loak's big blue boobs, and you like her! You couldn't keep your eyes off of her!"

Shepard simply sighed, resigned and defeated to this pointless argument. Stopping in her tracks, she grabbed Liara's slim waist and slung her around into her arms until they were face to face. Shepard's head softly drooped down to Liara's, her short red hair curtaining both of their faces as Liara's wet eyes widened and then shut, lips protruding in expectancy.

Shepard paused her descent and stole an abrupt whiff, smelling the pungently sweet scent of strong alcohol on her lips.

Yup.

She didn't even notice that Liara had been drinking, but then again, she had been paying a lot of her attention to Aria's latest requests so it wasn't that surprising that she didn't.

"Let's get back to the Normandy." Shepard blinked and swiftly turned away, grabbing the patiently waiting Liara's hand to set off towards their abode.

Liara fumed and erupted in resistance as her eyes and mouth opened to empty disappointment. "Hey! No! Where's my kiss?"

At a lack of response, Liara swung around in front of the stubborn redhead and pushed up tightly against her. Closing her eyes yet again, she beckoned for a kiss. Heart melting at the stubborn sight, Shepard gave in and leaned over, pulling the drunken mess in tighter for a quick peck.

At the sudden soft contact against her own chest, only one thought came to Shepard's mind.

_Aria had some fine breasts, but Liara definitely won in that department. Ohhhh yeah._

Shepard squeezed Liara's warm body a little closer to her own.

_God, I'm such a pervert_.


	8. Appreciate You

Appreciate You

* * *

The silent whir of the craft resonated through their bodies as Shepard expertly steered it, both her and Liara comfortably reveling in the silence. But as she steered, Shepard could feel the eyes of a certain asari staring intensely at her from her side.  
"What?"  
Liara cocked her head questioningly.  
"What do you mean what?"  
Shepard turned to face her inquisitive eyes, a single maroon brow risen.  
"I mean 'Why are you staring at me?' what."  
A single teal brow rose in response, along with a single corner her lips.  
"Am I not allowed to stare at you?"  
Shepard scrunched her face in conflicted protest, facing the path through the front window as her words betrayed her inner objections.  
"... No, but it makes feel me a little uncomfortable."  
"...Hm."  
A long silence ensued after Liara's ambiguous response as Shepard felt herself grow increasingly self conscious at her continued staring.  
_Do I have something weird on my face? An emerging zit or something?_  
The whir of the craft answered her inner musings until her asari's voice called her name.  
"Hey Shepard?"  
Shepard subconsciously bit her lower lip as she faced the source of that golden voice.  
"Yes?"  
Liara's hand lightly rested itself on Shepard's knee as her crested head leaned snugly into the warm nook of her neck, inhaling her familiar scent.  
"I want you to know that I'm just appreciating you."


	9. From Ashes

From Ashes

* * *

It was beautiful. The vibrant flowers, the elegantly sparkling fountains, the impeccably organized rows and rows of black.

Like bugs.

Shepard surely would've had a laugh at this sight, all for her nonetheless.

All of the formal and haughty military speeches, all of the ebony lines of mourners she never even knew, all of the words that the people wanted to hear.

Praising her admirable selflessness, her diplomatic methods, her perfectly calculated decisions, her swaying charisma, her mighty fortitude of both mental and physical strength. A true Hero of the Galaxy.

All of the people that never even knew her, the silly and moody and infuriating and unreasonable and vulnerable and _amazing_ woman that was her Shepard.

No, this was no funeral for Shepard.

Shepard had died on the Crucible that day, her ghost lingering still in Liara's every tear, every thought, and every breath.

No, this was the birth of an unattainable legend, a divine, one bearing the same title of Commander Shepard, borne from the ashes of the very human Shepard that used to be hers.

Because her Shepard was but ashes now. Her Shepard was dead.


	10. Go

Go

* * *

"How would you want to go?"

It was a simple question.

"I don't know, but I know how I don't want to go."

Shepard paused for a moment, thoughtful, then stared up at the glass ceiling, at the endless expanse of their universe.

'I know don't want to go from wasting away in a bed, tubes and shit inside of me.

"When I go, I want to go down fighting. Guns and fire all ablaze, that's how."

Sighing, Shepard blinked and glanced at Liara to her side, lightly covered by a cotton sheet.

Liara subconsciously bit her lips and averted her verdant gaze, a flash of emotion just barely gracing her face before she tucked them away.

Chuckling, Shepard turned on her side to directly face her love and continued on.

"Or at least that's what I would have said before. Before this. Us."

Liara peeked an azure eye and rose a brow in question, an invitation for elaboration.

"You know, now I don't think I'd mind dying peacefully in bed anymore... Surrounded by all fifty of our kids and you by my side." A grin curled up a corner of Shepard's lips, a twinkle shining from her eyes. "Sounds like a good life to me. What do you think?"

Shepard shrieked in surprise as Liara suddenly shifted and leaped onto her, the ruffles and waves of their billowing blankets settling around them.

"Shepard," Liara started, grinning mischievously as she straddled her lover, Shepard's eyes widening. "Fifty children may be a bit... much."

"49?" Shepard inquired, a single crimson brow raised.

"Well..." The asari paused thoughtfully before decidedly laughing and rushing in for a kiss. "I guess we'd better get started now then."


	11. Highway

Highway

* * *

_**"25th Anniversary of Crucible Day Celebrations"**_

Holding the flashing holo screen in her hands, Shepard tapped to the leading headline of the day, bold with striking importance.

Gracing the good majority of the initial page was a picture of Liara and herself from the day before, grinning with vibrant exotic bouquets and their young daughter in their arms at the reveal of the newest Normandy tribute in the Citadel.

But what Shepard saw were the wrinkles etched into her face, the strands of gray intruding through the maroon. She saw the thinness of her lips and the leanness of her sculpted muscles. The tiredness that exuded from her once bright forest eyes. She saw a scarred and aging woman next to the beautiful asari that still looked exactly as she had when they had first met on Therum. She saw that woman next to the eternally little girl who called her Daddy.

At least eternally little to Shepard, no matter how much of eternity they could have together.

Shepard was never one to care much about appearances, but a sense of dreadful fear nestled its way into her as a realization much deeper dawned onto her.

She was getting old.

And she was heading further and further down that highway alone.


	12. Habits

Habits

* * *

At first it was cute.

"By the goddess, this artifact is a priceless specimen of the Protheans!"

"By the goddess, look at the stars hovering above us!"

"By the goddess, Shepard, the size of that... thing!"

But after a while, it could get just a little... grating at times.

"By the goddess, Shepard, you know how much I dislike it when you crack your knuckles."

"By the goddess, is it so hard to make your side of the bed?"

"By the goddess, is it so hard to just knock before barging into the bathroom?"

Yes. Yes it is, by the way.

By the goddess this, by the goddess that, were there no other phrases in her vocabulary?

Like, what did that even mean? By which goddess? Who? How is anything 'by the goddess'? Did the goddess do it? What?

None of it made any sense.

But then again, things not making sense were a regular occurrence for Shepard. And those times when things were so dizzying and confusing and made absolutely no sense, those were the times her asari would always sweetly smile and softly kiss her until it was okay.

How easily Liara could make it all go away, all of the shit of the universe, with a soft smile and a few kisses.

But by the goddess, Shepard had to admit, did she love that woman.


	13. Just Like Old Times

Just Like Old Times

* * *

Her arms flew around her, enveloping her in a flurry of squeals and gasps of relief. Head nuzzling into her love's maroon hair, she tightened her embrace as if making a statement of never letting go, _ever_ again. The familiar hustle and bustle in the docking bay following the docking of the Normandy SR-3- XO Garrus heatedly clearing official paperwork with C-sec officials, Grunt already betting with other crew mates that he could outdrink them at Chora's Den, Joker wheeling out and scowling at the sight of maintenance workers' grubby hands on his ship- it all melted away into muted colors and sounds.

"Thank the goddess you're back," Liara whispered into the crook of her neck, face still buried there.

Shepard shifted her head down to look into Liara's eyes, instead getting an eyeful of crest. She felt the corners of her lips curl up. "Was that ever in question?"

"No... But I'd feel a lot better if I were out there too, watching your back," Liara started as she shifted her grip to meet Shepard's gaze. "Just like old times... I've missed you."

"Mhmmmm," Shepard breathed out as she chuckled into her crest. She could never ask Liara to just drop her research, her life's work, because she knew full well that Liara would in a heartbeat if Shepard only asked. But Shepard herself couldn't just drop the Normandy, because there was always something in this bloody galaxy that needed fixing. Duty called. Just like old times.

And so they just stood there, living in their so very rare shared moment of time, these moments of peace that kept them going in the everlasting chaos of their lives.

Just like old times.


	14. Jump!

Jump!

* * *

Her eyes were soft in their gaze, warm and inviting pools of aquamarine hues.

"Come on honey, you can do it! Just jump right into Mommy's arms, I've got you!" Liara exclaimed with her arms wide open, encouraging as she waded in the shallow waters of the pool.

Her daughter's eyes, on the other hand, were wide open, doe-like, in complete and utter terror. "But... But..."

Her stubby blue legs paced and hopped in hesitation, the frills of her cherry printed bathing suit bouncing up and down. Oversized floaties enveloped her upper arms, causing her short arms to rest in an awkward position, like a bird ready to take flight. Her perfect little nose scrunched in obvious distress.

"Mommy's right here!" Liara repeated assuredly with her undying patience, one that Shepard had never seemed to gotten the hang of herself.

Watching the entire scene from the removed distance of a few feet, Shepard had been sprawled on a bright yellow lounge chair, wearing her N7 swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses, when she decided this had played out for far too long. Propping herself up and out of the chair, she walked over to where the action (or lack thereof) was.

Wordlessly, she crouched behind her daughter and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She then quickly lifted their child up by her sides and, directed towards Liara's opened arms, tossed her in. Liara, true to her word, caught her deftly. The ensuing splash landed a few droplets of water on her brand new shades, but the blank expressions of both Liara and her daughter staring back at her, mouths slightly agape... _That_, was totally worth it.

"That, my loves, is how you do it." Grinning, the N7 in her speaking, Shepard sauntered back to her chair, sat down regally, and sprawled back out just as she had done before.


	15. Hair

Hair

* * *

Nothing reminded Liara of her quite like the hair she left behind. Deep maroon shoulder-length strands littered every other inch of their apartment, a constant reminder of happier times, of a life come to pass. No matter how much she vacuumed and wiped and cleaned, there was always a single strand or so left behind, these god-stubborn traces of her, glinting a violent red in the light of the sun to catch her eye almost tauntingly. And when she picked that up, there'd be another one. And another one. And another one.

On the living room couch. In her cream formal dress. On the bathroom counters. In her black pumps. On the cotton-white pillows of their bed.

She was here.

She had been here.

What had once been a source of wonder and amusement, something she loved to twirl, to smell, to grip, to caress, were now ghostly whispers and lingering reminders of how human she had been. How gone she was.

It was funny how something so stupidly small, like such thin strands of dead skin cells, broke her down.

And it was funny how much she felt like the red hair that littered every moment of her waking day: so fragile, so small, and so very left behind.


	16. Why?

...Why?

* * *

Liara awoke to the very uncomfortable sensation of what she assumed it would feel like to be suffocated by a baby elcor. When she finally mustered the strength and willpower to open her eyes, she saw that it was not in fact a baby elcor that was suffocating her, but the rear end of her young child on her face.

"Mmphmmmmm!" Liara mumbled as she lazily propped herself up on her bed, catching her little girl in her arms and carefully setting her on the edge of the bed. Mornings usually weren't bad for her, but last night had been a very, very long night for her and Shepard. Getting enough sleep hadn't quite been the first thing on their minds. But in her peripheral, Liara couldn't help but notice that Shepard seemed to be long gone, her side of the bed neatly and militarily made.

Usually so articulate with her words, Liara was still too groggy and frankly, confused, only managing to ask single confused, "...Why?"

"Good morning Mommy!" her daughter grinned radiantly, swinging her stubby legs off the edge of the bed, causing ambitious ripples in the cotton white sheets. "Daddy was laughing and talking to Uncle Wrex earlier and was saying that nothing felt as good as sitting on your face. But your face is uncomfortable to sit on. In fact your nose kind of hurts. It'd make a really bad chair. I don't know what Daddy was talking about."

Liara stared blankly at her daughter.

Oh. My. Goddess.

Liara sensed the heat in her face rise and felt a dark teal flush settling in her cheeks.

Oh. My. Freaking. Goddess.

"SHEPARD!"


End file.
